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The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Development History
This consists of the development history for The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout, and other Steam early access development notes. Synopsis Originally, this synopsis was announced: A fantasy adventure game where you control the actions of a Redwall outsider, on his quest to find the Warrior's Star, a mystical relic believed to be recovered by Martin the Warrior long ago. Called by the spirit of Martin himself, you must secretly explore abbey halls, solve ancient riddles and unlock hidden passageways without being discovered in your search of the mysterious treasure. But beware of those who seek the Star for darker purposes. The fate of Mossflower is in your hands. Lead on, brave adventurer. Your quest awaits! As of September 2017, the official Steam synopsis was announced as: A whimsical adventure game based on the bestselling Redwall books. Set in the winter shrouded wilderness between Lilygrove and Redwall Abbey, help Liam or Sophia race for help from the raiding rats under Cheesethief's command. Characters *A mouse character, "Simon," was described as follows: "Simon grew up far to the south where tall grass was far more common than tall trees and where serpents gathered in groups. As a child, a traveling monk came through his village tending the sick and lame and that's the first he heard of Redwall. As he grew he found himself always drifting north, season by season he'd wander and while he had no goal in mind there seemed an invisible cord drawing him onward until he found himself standing before the looming wall of Mossflower Wood." (This character does not appear in the game) Updates 1/5/2018 Steam Early Access Build : Bug Update V 0.51 * Controls Lab: Early players were pretty evenly split on what style of controls they wanted to see. Should they be more skill based or more cinematic? This build contains the first iteration of a Control Lab where you can experience two pretty different approaches…and vote on which one you prefer. * Architect Points: The feedback we’ve been getting from early access players has been SO helpful and useful that we want to incentivize that kind of thing. So we’ll be adding in a system that rewards this kind of feedback with Architect Points. We still need to decide what these points get you…but it’ll be non-trivial so stand by. * This is primarily a bug update to address some of the most pressing feedback we got from the first release. To that end expect more of a “fewer things wrong” update than a “bunch of new stuff” update and we plan to have minor bug updates a regular part of the cycle. *What’s Next: * Addition of the scent mechanic we’ve been working on, most likely in a controlled “Scent Lab” environment. Woodlanders experience the world through their noses as much as their eyes and ears and we’ve got a little something we think you’ll like coming up quickly. * Playable alpha (or some progress thereto) for the Lighthouse scene including a three-part sequence and the villainous Scumsnout! 1/30/2018 Steam Early Access Build : Content Release V 0.6 *Scent Lab *Updated Lilygrove Chase Scene *Catacomb Graybox 2/4/2018 Steam Early Access Build : Content Release V 0.6 *Scent Lab: Scent Lab has been reworked to create a better flow. It should be easier to understand and experience. 2/16/2018 Steam Early Access Build : Tech Update V 0.61 * Updated Control Lab: We've been hard at work on a complete rebuild of the character control based partly on feedback from the initial launch. It's a big pivot but it's going well. Check out how that's coming along and give us your feedback on things like speed and jump strength. Still a lot more to do here, but we're probably over the hump. * Water Update: Big changes to how we render water in Lilygrove and Old Moss Creek. We think new were able to find a great balance between realism and the stylized world we've been building. * Updated Catacombs Graybox: Take a look at how the architecture on this level is coming along. *What's Next: * Hilltop Camp graybox. When we launched just before Christmas we striated with Old Moss Creek which is technically Act II, Scene I of the entire game. Since then we've been working backwards on level releases and finally we're getting to Act I, Scene I: Hilltop Camp...this is where it all begins. 3/30/2018 Steam Early Access Build : Combined Tech and Content Update V 0.70 * GDC Catacombs (Partial Level): Seen here is the very truncated experience we showed at GDC. It's designed around the rather constrained experience people have a trade show so it lacks much of what would be expected in a "normal" level but many people asked to see this...and your wishes are our commands. * New Controls: Included in the catacombs update is the first release of an entirely new control scheme, including a whole new animation controller, that allows a lot more freedom of movement. If you play Old Moss Creek, which still has the old movement scheme, and compare the two we hope you'll see a significant improvement. * NPC Direction Lab: Part of Redwall's essential ethos is a value for community and fellowship. With that in mind we've begun to make the NPC mice smarter and more capable. We want them to be a valuable part of your adventure and not just a lame escort mission. Seen here is a small testing ground where AI-Driven NPCs can be given directions and collect resources - their most critical role when traversing the cold wilderness. * What's Next: * Complete Catacombs Level: With the constraints of a booth removed we'll be opening up a lot more of this level and letting the everyone roam around a lot more - that includes the rats. * Hilltop Camp Graybox: We had hoped to get this ready to show by this release but getting ready for GDC just took up too much oxygen to squeeze it in. But we'll have this in the next content update for sure. 5/25/2018 Steam Early Access Build : Combined Tech and Content Update V 0.9 The Scout has come a long way since our first build was posted just about five months ago and this might just be the last major update we make before making a genuine commercial release of Act I...depending on how this goes. :) What's New? A lot...it would be shorter to tell what's the same but here's a few highlights: * New Dialog System * New level: Hilltop Camp * New Menu system * New cinematics * Updated...just about everything What's Next? There is still obviously work to be done in terms of polish and finished art assets so that's the main effort to come next as well as finishing off a few mini-levels, mini-games, and of course voice over work. Bug fixing and optimization are also ongoing matters so anticipate those to keep on going iteratively. All that said - we're getting pretty close now and barring the unforeseen we expect to push forward in a way that focuses on additional content like more story lines, more levels and of course more playable characters and species. 7/27/2018 Beta! It's totally real... Eulalia! After entering Early Access in December last year, and many iterations in the last seven months, we're ready to call this thing a Beta build. "Beta" can be a slippery word so here's what WE mean by "Beta" * We're working on bugs * We're working on performance * We're working on controls * No more features are being added (yet) * No more content is being added (yet) If you've been lurking and hanging out, now is a good time to buy. We want, nay, we NEED your feedback to find every bug, glitch, and sneaking vermin before we go full release. As a motivation all Early Access purchases will be counted as full Season Passes when we go live which will get all three acts of The Scout when they release for the price of one. But this offer is only good until we release in full. After that - it's one episode at time for you boyo! ...If you're already in the EA group - you're already included in this deal. :) What We've Been Up To: If you are the proud owner of this game already but haven't played the build in a while, we'd like to invite you to take a look. The core levels have been polished and finalized, voice overs have been added, and every day more and more bugs are removed! After a warm reception at Portland's own Game Developers Conference, we are proud to call this game nearly complete. Just A Taste Of The Newest Material: *Hours of professional Voice Overs *Updated Art *Polished Quests *NPC group mechanic *Smarter, Deadlier Rats *Faster Ladders *Updated Lighting *Smoother FPS and Much Optimization What You Can Look Forward To In Future Updates: *Animated Cinematic *Polished Animations *Reworked Dialog System *New Mini-Levels with a Verminous Focus *An In-Depth Cooking System *New Ingredients *More Lore *Polished End-Level Records Screen *Polished Save System *Refined Scent Trails *And more :) 8/21/2018 Steam Early Access Build : Tech Update V 0.96. Below you will find a condensed version of the changelog for 2018-08-20. You can also see the types of bug being submitted. To view the whole change log visit the link below. Changelog (2018-08-20) In Backlog: 203 Working On - Total Bugs: 14 10/27/2018 The Vermin Update Announcing the highly anticipated Vermin Update! A huge addition to The Scout that adds two entirely new levels full of the villainous rat pirates that are burning Lilygrove to the ground! Nine individual, unique, scavenging pirates to encounter and engage and each with their own personalities, conversations, goals and character arcs. Each rat, both females and males, have their own thoughts and concerns to overhear and observe plus a dynamic interaction matrix when any two rats get together to discuss and deviate. Use your wits, and the available tools, to maneuver and enrage your targets...and just wait to see what happens. And last, but opposite of least, is an all new terrifying encounter with the enormous weret Scumsnout. Also in this update: *All new gorgeously animated main menu with granular level selection *45min of all new voice over content. *Fully reworked and optimized cutscenes with subtitles *Full support for Windows 7 (actually fixed in the previous bug patch in case you missed it) *...plus dozens of bug fixes, graphical upgrades, and performance improvements. This is the biggest content push we've had since March and every Redwall fan will want to check it out. 11/6/2018 V 1.1.1 This build fixed a few obvious (and comical) bugs that came out with the Vermin Update including the infamous Hockey Puck Rat bug...half-sad to see that go away actually... What's new: *Lots of collision and geometry bugs found and fixed in the two new levels *Added individualized rat AI state callouts in Scene II *Ongoing graphical polish, particularly in the UI department for this build *Several new rat animations to help them feel more alive *56 Urgent and High level bugs crushed and coded *Fixed the persistently dead rat bug (AKA Hockey Puck rats) and the converse Resurrecting Rats bug *Updated the scent cave tutorial...again...and it probably still needs work. This has been difficult to make interesting... What's Next: The Woodlander Update which will include several new characters and minor locations to fill out the friends and family of our hero and also make Liam a fully playable character that you can choose at the beginning. Also, while not germane to Steam, there's a lot of effort to get the game launched on Xbox One and PS4 by Christmas... 12/21/2018 The Woodlander Update V 1.5 We’re happy to wrap up 2018 with what we’re calling The Woodlander Update. This build adds in a huge new amount of content, primarily on account of adding a whole new playable character! Now you can choose to play as Liam, or Sophia..or both if you’re really into it. Along with making Liam playable comes close to full hours of new story, 2 never-before seen supporting characters and a major rework of several core systems and levels. We expect this release to be the last major content update for episode one but we will still be working on optimization, bugs, and polish - so we’re not done with this episode just yet. We hope you’ll find all the new content exciting and if you were an early adopter and haven’t been back in a few months, now would be a great time to check out all that’s been added and improved since V1.0. What’s New: *A entirely new playable character! Liam Rivermouse. *Two new scenes, Dorabella’s Cellar and Sexton’s Hill. *Total rework of Hilltop Camp including a whole new gear upgrade system. *Added and improved conversation trees for several woodlanders like Ichabod Cornsilk, Fr. Thomas Beechwhite, and Dorabella and Belladora Ivywain. *A HUGE performance improvement, especially on rigs at the lower end *A metric bungload of bug fixes. What’s Next: *There’s still plenty of room for optimization and performance updates, we plan to squeeze out another few FPS. *Our bug list is shrinking little by little but we have another big bug push on schedule after the first of the year. *…and primary development continues on Act II as well... Lastly - if you're into that kind fo thing - Merry Christmas! 1/23/2019 Update and Bug Fixes Hey There Redwallers! We recognize that the latest Woodlander Update introduced some new issues and bugs. But we've been working hard to crush the worst of these new bugs, as well as some previously reported, and are happy to announce the first in a series of fixes has gone live. Expect more updates every couple of days until we have the game ship-shape and working for you fine folks. What's Changed? *Major Improvements on finicky rat AI especially in regards to "the Pirates" level *Major Improvements to the saving and checkpoint system *Fixed the bugs that made the final level nigh impossible to beat *General Changes to brighten the lighting across the entire game *Improvements to squeeze-hole camera's (more still to come) *Improved performance in "the Catacombs" level What's Next? *Continued polish of Hilltop Camp level and tutorial courses *Further Improvements to lighting and post processing *Further edits to rat AI for smarter and more interesting enemy interactions *A new puzzle and route within the "Pirates" level to allow more fast paced and personalized game play Thank you all for sticking with us and sorry for any inconvenience in game play. We invite you all to play again soon and see what changed. And as always, our lines are open for your feedback! We want to hear from you - what you like, what you didn't: together we will make this game the best it can be. On behalf of Soma Games, best wishes and a great day to you all. 1/25/2019 Update and Bug Fixes Greetings Redwallers - Today we have another new build pushed with a number of improvements to your gaming experience! *Can now dismount zipline early without issue *Further lighting improvements *New party décor in Hilltop Camp *Sound now properly pauses in the ESC menu *New Side route in the Pirates Level *New Ichabod Model! Coming Soon to Steam Near You: *Camera Polish in the Catacombs level *New lootables in chests *Extra Player Guidance via pop-ups *Finally Pin down that pesky Bonus-Cache-not-saving bug in the Hilltop stealth maze Give it a look - and as always - we hope to hear from you! Feedback, comments, just to say hi ~ Oh and if you are among the players with concerns about the checkpoint system, we've heard you, and we are currently evaluating the best way to proceed. We understand that our current save system is rather punishing, and we are looking at a more comprehensive solution, but unfortunately that will take a bit more time than these bi-daily builds, but know that we are working on something to relieve your headaches Thank you for Playing :smiley: Have a fabulous day. -Best, Soma Games 2/1/19 Update and Bug Fixes Hello and Happy Monday, just this last Friday we pushed another Redwall build which included a number of changes to the first two levels: *The second moving rat in the stealth maze now activates and deactivates accordingly *Sidle interacts have been cut and replaced *The "Retry" test issue for the Scent and Stealth courses has been resolved! Tests properly reset and save *Score Screen no longer reports untracked scores (anything that would read 0/0) *Improved Rat Navigation (they no longer attempt to walk through water) *Some Rat's have been given torches *NEW! Can now lock rat's in rooms using collected keys in the Catacombs *Addressed Lag Spikes in the Catacombs level *Fixed buggy Cameras for Squeeze doors and the transition to the Cellar in the Catacombs level *A smoother experience for the final boss level *Addressed some animation weirdness in rescued Refugees *Updated rats who enjoyed walking through shut shutters *Fixed the issue that prevented completion of the Scent Cave when loading level from level select Thanks for sticking with us, and we hope to continue polishing the experience. Still in progress: *Fix for a save issue that prevents completion should you choose to "retry" a tutorial trial (Note: this fix was already found and made but did not make this build push - sorry for the inconvenience) *On going re-evaluation of the save/checkpoints system *Make the Pirates level final gate openable by player as well as rats *Discussions on Possible AI overhaul *Rework of the Checkpoints/Save system *Introducing new riddle/puzzles and ways to disable rat threats Ideas, Concerns, just wanna say Hi? We want to hear form you! 2/11/19 Update and Bug Fixes Good morning, evening, or wherever your time zone lies ~ Soma Games has a new Redwall build push for you today. If you've been following us you'll notice our intended bi-daily builds have slowed to a once a week push as we tackle more complex bugs and system issues (such as the save system and enemy AI) . We would rather make quality updates then push new problems alongside new fixes, so please bear with us and thank you for your patience. What we have for you today: *More Reliable Scent learning that doesn't break the tutorial scent cave *Refined Lightmaps and all around better lighting (Just one more level before this topic is called complete) *Remodeled hillsides now without holes *The Pirates mid-level cutscene now able to click through *Performance boost to Catacombs level *Rats more responsive to player distractions *No more rats running off to fight their friends 3/14/19 Bug Fixes and Update Hello fellow Woodlanders, and happy pie day! May you find a fair feast of pies both savory and sweet waiting for you at Redwall! On this day we offer a new update filled with goodies just for you! (And beware an extra evil rat or two, you know, in the spirit of March 15th) It's been a while since we've made a push but we hope you'll find it worth the wait. The brunt of our efforts have gone into Performance, Bug Fixing, a dash of extra content, and as you may have noticed, a slew of new achievements for your inner completionist :) *New Cross Level Riddle and related Lore with a special surprise inside!! *A few new Easter Eggs added (and linked to achievements) *Still fighting with Lighting - but getting better with every pass *Improved Frame Rate and Speed and a LOT less lag *Adjustments to climbing ledges for more climbing and less phasing through walls like a phantom *Rats are more efficient and meaner than ever ~ Watch yourself out there brave scouts! *Scumsnout adjusted to be a tiny LESS mean and gives you a fighting chance on the ascent to the Lighthouse *New Audio and Sound Effects on items and terrain sprinkled throughout the game *Improved Tutorial and Tooltips to help guide you through the levels (and some new hint markers to boot) *New log trap in the 'Pirates' level for the mischievous hero *More reliable NPC pathing, now with a mega speed boost - never get bored waiting on your party again *You can now MOVE while in your Wayglass or Slingshot :) So please enjoy and we hope to hear from you! 7/5/19 Update and Bug Fixes Hey There Folks, a big Hello from Soma Games. It's been a while since we've been able to push an update, so thank you for your patience and sticking with us. Today we are proud to announce our Release to Playstation and XBox! A lot has been tweaked in preparation for this long-awaited release, and of course, here they are for our steam audience. Changes include *Added Death Audio Narration *New Controller Controls featuring thumb-stick tilt speed control *Pick Pocketing Mission added to "the Pirates" *Re-Worked Scent System *New Wind Mechanics – Increased Performance *Scents Release Each Note at Same Time *Scent Notes Are Release with Same duration *Scent Icons Only Show in Active Scent Mode *SCENTS CAN ONLY BE LEARNED IN ACTIVE SCENT MODE *Re-Worked the Approach to make it easier to save the farm *Re-Worked Rat AI *Re-Worked Mouse AI *Performance Changes *Re-worked Camera Collision *Idle Rat Chatter Improvements 2/5/2020 MAJOR UPDATE (ok actually a re-build) of The Scout Act I Major changes include: *Major improvements to scent system, including all-new visuals. *Huge improvements to environmental visuals across the whole game (see difference below) *More depth and operation in the dialog system. *Major rework of overall flow and goal progression. *On-screen objective markers. (example in image) *New interaction system for spatial positioning, facing sensitivity, and clarity. *Big performance improvements. *Reworked all trees and underbrush, improving both visuals and performance. *Smoothed and improved player control overall. *Global geometry polish and improvements. *Checkpoint and save system overhaul. *Plus hundreds more updates, improvements and bug fixes! Category:The Lost Legends of Redwall Category:The Scout Category:Video games